“Real” vs “Fake” Natural And Living Vibrant Life After 40 #AMCoffee

Turning 40: Hormonal Changes
Ovaries, Adrenal Glands pH & More

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I believe that it’s important to have as much “natural” in our lives as possible because, these days and especially for women, our projected life expectancy is well into our 80s and also possibly 90s. So that means we spend more than half of our lives in peri-menopause and menopause! The fewer toxins we have especially in our 40s and 50s, will help contribute to a better old age.

“Real” natural vs. “fake” natural; putting aloe into a product along with a lot of other chemicals is “fake” natural.

There are so many products that have a “fake” natural labelling. They call themselves natural, however, they simply add chemicals in ADDITION to the natural ingredients.

Bisphenol-A (or BPA) – also hormone disruptors, they are found in plastics and lining of food tins

Formaldehyde – a known carcinogen, it can be in nail polish and even vinyl flooring

Our ovaries start to decline in terms of hormone production and our adrenal glands take over.

Once our ovaries stop functioning – the process begins in peri-menopause – our adrenal glands start to take over a lot of our body’s hormone production (up to 50%). So resting becomes extremely important in addition to avoiding chemicals.

I believe that 100% natural is a “must” rather than a “nice-to-have” as we age. Especially for mucous membranes and our gut.

TIP: Be wary of whether a personal care product is actually “natural.” And also don’t have the same expectations for natural products. Products without sulphates as foaming ingredients won’t foam as much. Check ingredients carefully.

As we are celebrating a National WOMEN’s Health Week May 14-20, I decided to invite one of the prominent product formulators and a woman-entrepreneur Chia Chia Sun (pronounced chah-chah-sun).

Damiva CEO Chia Chia Sun with Her Family Hiking

For the past few years, Chia Chia has dedicated her time and efforts to formulate personal care, intimate care line of products that allow each woman to feel comfortable and healthy inside her body, as she crosses that 40’s line. Some amazing insights and research Chia Chia has dug out from her own personal journey.

Chia Chia will be available to us all to ask questions during this week of our AM Coffee. Get ready to ask and learn from her!

This week in celebration of National Women’s Health Week, our friends at Damiva want to tell you all about what to expect and how to live happier and healthier lives after age 40. We’re going to explore many women’s health topics every day from Monday to Friday during our morning coffee chat. Chia Chia Sun, CEO of Damiva, wants to give you the real-life letter that you wish your mother had given you; along with the healthy dose of love that we expect from Mom.

Stressed Adrenal Glands

During peri-menopause and menopause, our adrenal glands become stressed and we become sensitive to chemicals and perfumes.

Have you noticed as you’re aging that you can’t wear the perfumes you used to? This is certainly the case for me. I stopped wearing perfume because it was bothering my partner, who is 8 years older than me. However, now I can’t tolerate perfume myself. The reason that perfumes in particular bother us is that they contain multiple artificial scents, as well as undeclared ingredients.

Approximately 90% of perfumes contain parabens. A recent study of 17 designer fragrances on the market showed that each perfume had, on average, 14 undeclared chemicals including one that .

Out of the total 91 chemicals in the 17 fragrances, only 19 had been reviewed by the agency (Cosmetic Ingredient Review) that reviews ingredients for the cosmetics industry.

TIPS: Try using organic essential oils (and pure scents) instead of perfumes. While they don’t last as long, they are less allergenic.

I cannot bare any strong perfumes, especially any florals and sweet ones.
I am sticking to my favorites. Every now and then, I go to the perfume store to check out what’s new out there, but rarely find anything suitable.
I tend to check out my favorite brands though.
But I do know they have chemicals in them, no matter how much I love them.

i cant were many perfumes and deodorant i get migraines i can only use the baby powder ones and some of the when i go out to places i can not go to many places with all the perfumes smells are so strong i end up sick and coughing gasping to breath

It’s actually the “parabens” that are in the perfumes that are bothering us so much. Parabens are everywhere; a study of women’s urine found that the majority of women (over 90%) have excess parabens. We breathe them in our homes, when we go out, pretty much everywhere.

When I first sold my products to a drugstore chain, the very first buyer who bought them stopped me after 5 minutes and said, “Chia Chia. I get it. Yours is the only product good for women on the market.” Fortunately, he had just hired an external strategy firm to review the feminine hygiene aisle in his chain and their conclusion was that all the products are bad for women.

How crazy is that? That the industry knows that these products aren’t good for us. It’s why I’m so dedicated to making our personal care products. There’s a big gap in terms of what’s available and what we need / should be using.

That would be awesome! Our next product that we are testing is a “melatonin” sleep cream that is designed to be better for us than oral melatonin and help keep us asleep. Orally ingested melatonin doesn’t work for a lot of women because we process melatonin through our livers very quickly (within an hour) and we need more melatonin throughout the night.

This is actually shocking information about the fragrances not all being tested. I know I used to love buying any candles I loved the scent of but know I make them myself. Essential oils are something I am using more and more.

Wendi,
I am a rubbing any fresh fruit into my face and neck areas when I have them super fresh!
I am walking around the house with my face smothered in strawberries or blueberries or cucumbers!
My boys laugh and joke with me because of that. I love it!
I will create a series of FACIAL MASKS that you and all of our AM Coffee Galz could make and use at home.
Let’s make our HOMES a SPA Space for us to relax and enjoy the benefits of super powerful and natural ingredients!

Chemicals can change the pH and metabolism of our mucous membranes (mouth, gut and vagina)

Our mucous membranes and skin are generally acidic, i.e. have a pH level of less than 7. Have you gotten onto the apple cider vinegar trend? There’s a scientific rationale of maintaining the right pH levels in our gut.

Our mucous membrane tract goes from our mouth to gut to vagina – so it makes sense that we maintain acidity in that entire tract. That’s why products need to be formulated to the right pH.

When we’re born, our baby skin has a pH of 7 or 8. We develop a protective acidic mantle of about 5.5 on our skin. Then as we age, we lose that mantle and become more prone to bacteria and other infections.

TIP: Check the pH of your skin products, particularly facial products. We want products that are a little acidic. It’s the reason why we spend so much time on pH in our R&D laboratories for our sexual health products.

I have had women contact me about using coconut oil, Crisco, canola oil, even organic lard – in their vaginas.

What I always say is that you can use anything 🙂 but if it’s not the right pH, then it’s the wrong ingredient to use often. Although as I am aging, I am finding that even a slight pH disturbance is not good.

Also, food ingredients are fine for our mouths but not necessarily for our vaginas as foods are often processed with a lot of unknown chemicals and typically have a higher bacterial count.

DAMIVA Products for Women Have Just the Right ACIDITY

DAMIVA has formulated two key products for women with the right acidity and nutrients to feed our skin cells. Their products – CLEO and MAE – are offered to women who are going through cancer treatments, pregnancy, peri-menopause and menopause.

That’s absolutely right! pH is a chemical term and we don’t think of biochemistry when we are using products. But it’s absolutely key for all personal care products I believe; whether vaginal, skin. And also as you point out – our gut needs pH tuning all the time so that the right bacterial flora are growing.

It’s a lot of work and maintenance but I do believe it keeps us healthy and vibrant for decades.

Healthy eating and living are accounting for our increase in life expectancy

The gains in life expectancy are primarily due to the reduction of diseases such as heart disease, respiratory disease (due to smoking) and infectious disease. Globally, people are living longer with healthier lifestyles related to better eating (fewer heart attacks) and less smoking.

While obesity (leading to increased heart disease) can wipe out some of these gains, new BMI data from Denmark shows that our optimal BMI is not as low as we think.

TIP: Especially as we age, we shouldn’t be as concerned about a BMI under 25.

Soon, we will be launching the UnDiet Project for the women in our amazingly vibrant and closely-knit community. Sign up to take your journey into the years that count. We will step into our Bodies through our Mind and Soul – UnDiet Project To Support You As A Woman You Are.

Add Your eMail TO LEARN MORE WHEN UnDiet Project Launches

quit smoking cold turkey almost 8 years ago for my dads birthday so this year on OCT 10th it will be 8 years!! Greatest gift he ever received he said!! And you cant cant back a gift like that!! Keeps the will power in tact not to smoke and too smell someone that smokes upsets me that i used to stink like that LOL

This is all great information on the natural and fake natural things in products. I know nothing about the Formaldehyde which I find very interesting. Thanks for sharing all the amazing information all week and a special thanks to Chia Chia Sun for all she has done to help this week.

Such a great informative article! I agree about being as natural as possible! Since turning 30 ( I am almost 48 now ) I have used as many natural products as possible – switching from what I used when younger. My advice is to start natural even younger for the best health, and beauty!

I only have two more years until I hit 40 so this was a great article for me. I do try to live pretty natural but hadn’t thought about what might be hiding in some of my products. Thanks for the head’s up!

It is really important to try and use only natural ingredients and shy away from harmful chemicals if at all possible! I am way past my 40’s and I fear that all the chemicals that went in body over the years (no one knew better back when) has probably caused some of the problems I now am encountering. Yes, now I am very careful what goein in and/or on my body.